First iCasino working group meeting set for Tuesday
First working group will focus on addiction, Dot br licences for Brazilian trio, Codere &Co!
Good morning, on Gaming&Co today:
France: First iCasino working group to meet on Tuesday with focus on addiction and problem gambling.
Boys from Brazil: Superbet, Rei do Pitaco and Aposta Ganha first to receive dot br licences.
Codere working round the clock to avoid delisting.
News shorts: GIG, The Game, Argentina.
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First French iCasino working group to meet on Tuesday
Working committee will focus on addiction and problem gambling
Work in progress: The working groups set to evaluate whether France should regulate online casinos will meet from next Tuesday, 2 December, with the first meeting set to focus on how regulation might help with addiction and problem gambling issues.
The project is the result of the stakeholder meeting that was organised by Budget Minister Laurent Saint-Martin at the start of the month and the government’s subsequent decision to undertake a six-month consultation led by three working groups.
The groups will focus on the public health aspects of legalisation, consumer protection, and the potential economic impact of iCasino on France’s land-based casinos. The Budget, Interior, Health, Culture, and Sport ministries will all be involved, depending on the topic.
Everything is political
Political implications will play key roles in determining the direction of the talks, with ministries such as Health and Culture understood to be opposed to – or at best lukewarm about – legalisation, while Budget officials are understood to be positive about the expected tax revenue and the potential to bring France’s debt levels down.
Opposing visions: Tax rates and expected fiscal revenues will be key considerations, but there is also the prospect of the Interior Ministry, which supervises French land-based casinos, potentially clashing with the Budget Ministry over different visions of how regulation should take shape.
Takedown: In addition, and more serious for France, there is also a real risk that PM Michel Barnier’s government could be brought down by a vote of confidence as a result of MPs rejecting the 2025 budget.
One contact tells G&C that the risk of such an event is very real and increasing: “The credibility of certain political groups is at stake, and they may have no choice but to censure the government in view of what is contained in the Finance Bill.”
In addition, Marine Le Pen, leader of the far right party Rassemblement National, effectively has the deciding vote on whether to vote the budget through, but much will also depend on how she “decides to position herself in light of the outcome of her trial”, which is due in March next year.
Major setback: What would happen to the legalisation process if the government falls? “It will have a major impact on the proposed regulation of online casinos,” says G&C’s source. “There is a risk that the work of the committees will be nipped in the bud. There is then no certainty that the next government will see this issue as a priority and that it will tackle it in the same way as the current government.”
Stakeholders would likely mobilise to put the issue back on the table, but there would be no guarantee of fast progress and such an outcome would be a major setback for the industry.
Necessity is the mother of invention: “But,” notes the contact, “given the state of the budget, a new government might be tempted to take up the project again in view of the tax revenues it could generate.”
As mentioned in previous G&C articles, broadly speaking three models are on the table: a competitive model as outlined in the online casino amendment introduced by the government at the end of October; a hybrid model that would see the country’s licensed online groups operate the digital offerings of land-based casinos; and a most unlikely, but not completely impossible scenario, would see Française des Jeux granted an iCasino monopoly.
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Superbet claims the honours as “first 100% legal operator” in Brazil
First three licences handed out as Latam giant prepares for iGaming regulation
Trio Brasileiro: Aposta Ganha, Rei do Pitaco and Superbet were the first three operators to be granted a federal gaming licence in Brazil this week and Superbet announced that it was first to pay the R$30m (€4.8m) licensing fee to become “the first 100% legal operator in the country”.
Dealing in 13s: Recall, 113 operators applied for a five-year licence before the August 13 deadline, with any operator that had not applied set to be closed down by the authorities. The Ministry of Finance has given the three operators a clean bill of health after a full regulatory and compliance investigation.
Operators have until December 13 to transfer their existing player databases to their licensed operation.
Aposta Ganha CEO Hugo Baungartner also told iGaming Business that he expects 40 operators to be given the green light ahead of the market opening on January 1st.
Codere chief hopes to quash Nasdaq delisting threat
Group working round the clock to avoid delisting
24/7: Codere Online CEO Aviv Sher said his team is “working day and night” to complete the filing that it missed and “eliminate the need for a hearing” against its Nasdaq delisting.
CFO Oscar Iglesias added: “The work in terms of the heavy lifting is overwhelmingly complete. It's really a question of dotting Is, crossing Ts and then certain procedural aspects. It's our number one priority right now.”
Welcome rollback: Aviv Sher also greeted the rollback of Spain’s Royal Decree, which banned advertising in the country, and the reintroduction of welcome bonuses to the market, but warned that there are other political machinations afoot that could reinstitute the ban.
Codere’s Q3 results saw its NGR rise 20% YoY to €52m and a third consecutive quarter of positive adj. EBITDA taking it to €4.5m.
Mexico continues to be the big driver of growth, with Q3 NGR up 27% to nearly €27m and up 44% to €81.5 for the first nine months of the year. NGR from Spain was up 11% to €21m during Q3.
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News shorts
Gaming Innovation Group has launched its igaming platform in Mexico through a deal with long-standing partner LuckyDays. It is GIG’s first foray into Latin America.
Abu Dhabi-based The Game has officially launched the first federally licensed lottery operation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The first draw of the UAE Lottery will take place on December 16th.
The Argentine Chamber of Deputies has voted through a bill banning advertising for the online gaming and sports betting sector. It now moves to the Senate for review, with no set date for consideration yet.
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